La media e bassa pianura veneta a sud dell'antico Adige nell'età del bronzo. Popolamento ed evoluzione socio-politica di un territorio a cavallo tra Europa, Italia e Mediterraneo

Abstract

Aim of this thesis is the reconstruction of Bronze Age settlement dynamics of the part of low and middle Veneto plain lying between ancient Adige river and present Po river. The research was structured in the following phases: the study of published data on paeleoidrographical aspects, in order to understand the settlement choices in relation with ancient environment; the study of all published archaeological Bronze Age contexts; the re-reading of material culture from these context, in order to redefine chronological and cultural aspects; the chrono-typological analysis of two groups of archaeological materials: the published sample of conformed handles, and the unpublished material from Fondo Paviani RBA and FBA embanked settlement. The main tools of the research are a database and GIS. The sample of all considered sites is composed by 288 contexts. The principal results regarding settlement dynamics are: 1) In the EBA a gradual stable occupation of the Northern Po Valley is attested, especially along riverbeds and wetlands, according to a process of “colonization” from Garda Lake pile-dwelling system to the plain. From the cultural point of view, the territory is characterized by Polada culture (EBA1) and Barche di Solferino aspect (EBA2), with the presence of some elements referable to Danubian-Carpathian area. 2) In MBA, an increase in settlement number is attested for MBA1, while in MBA2 the evidences clearly decrease, probably according to the simultaneous colonization of the Southern Po Valley; in MBA3 another small increase is registered. Already since MBA1, and in MBA2 and 3, settlements with bank and moat are known for the area. The cultural aspects are strictly related to the Southern Po Valley ones, even if we notice some independent characters. External relationships are attested, both with peninsular Italy - Grotta Nuova and Appenino cultural aspects – and continental Europe. 3) In the Recent Bronze Age, and specially in its advanced phase, a generalized and outstanding increase in the number of settlements is attested, together with the development of socio-political complex structures, as it is the polity of Valli Grandi Veronesi. This polity, whose central place is Fondo Paviani, is the key area for the wide exchange system that connects the examined territory with continental Europe, peninsular and North-Western Italy and the Aegean-Mediterranean area. 4) In the Final Bronze Age, a general contraction in the number of settlements is attested in FBA1-2, while we cannot record a collapse, but a general rearrangement of territorial pattern with the development of Frattesina, the new key context for the exchange system that connects continental Europe and Mediterranean world. In FBA3 a new process of territory occupation is attested, related to the centers of Gazzo Veronese, Oppeano, Montagnana, Este and Villamarzan